The GREATEST HITS, and record stores

My favorite of all time was a kid who asked for "Rice-a-Roni" when he really wanted "My Sharona."
We used to get wrong names for songs all the time on radio station request lines.

CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

ME: "I'm sorry?"

CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

(Point of reference for younger readers---this is 1977. It wasn't a thing yet to call someone a douche. Douchebag, yes. Douche, no. It's---nuanced, which we didn't say then, either.)

ME: "I don't know any song about a douche."

CALLER: "You play it all the time."

ME: "We do? How does it go?"

CALLER: "...wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night."

ME: "That's "deuce". Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light." I'll get that on for you. Thanks for calling."
 
It got worse as time went on and the people stocking the stores honestly did not know the artists. That’s when oddball stuff like the TJB being filed in “Spanish Language” or Carpenters suddenly moving from “Pop” to “Easy Listening” alongside Ray Conniff started to happen…early 90s.
The last big music store we had was Planet Music. Then theyy got into dvd's and games and the cd section dwindled rapidly. Herb Alpert was in the Jazz section and Sergio Mendes was in the World section. Soul/R&B, Country and Folk had their own areas and Rock and Pop were in one huge area. They also had a very good used cd section and lots of cd cutouts as well.
 
We used to get wrong names for songs all the time on radio station request lines.

CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

ME: "I'm sorry?"

CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

(Point of reference for younger readers---this is 1977. It wasn't a thing yet to call someone a douche. Douchebag, yes. Douche, no. It's---nuanced, which we didn't say then, either.)

ME: "I don't know any song about a douche."

CALLER: "You play it all the time."

ME: "We do? How does it go?"

CALLER: "...wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night."

ME: "That's "deuce". Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light." I'll get that on for you. Thanks for calling."
Both My Sharona and Blinded By The Light I have never liked and still change the station or turn the radio off every time they come on.
 
Not bad for what Russ Solomon started as a teenager with a counter in his dad’s Sacramento drug store. It’s been a restaurant for 25 years, but the original sign has never come down:
We used to get wrong names for songs all the time on radio station request lines.
CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

ME: "I'm sorry?"

CALLER: "I wanna hear the song about the douche."

(Point of reference for younger readers---this is 1977. It wasn't a thing yet to call someone a douche. Douchebag, yes. Douche, no. It's---nuanced, which we didn't say then, either.)

ME: "I don't know any song about a douche."

CALLER: "You play it all the time."

ME: "We do? How does it go?"

CALLER: "...wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night."

ME: "That's "deuce". Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light." I'll get that on for you. Thanks for calling."
I heard it wrong then too! :)
 
I had somebody ask for "I Been Cheated," but he couldn't remember who it was by, and I eventually found out he was wanting "When Will I Be Loved" by Linda Ronstadt.
 
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